John Portman & Associates designing a new resort hotel

John Portman & Associates (PORTMAN) is pleased to announce the firm’s appointment by the Shanghai Jiuzhou Group Company to provide an architectural concept design for the Qingpu Liantang Hotel Project, a new destination resort hotel in the canal town of Liantang, located in the Qingpu district of Shanghai.

“We are very excited to embark on this partnership with the Shanghai Jiuzhou Group Company,” said Robert Halverson of PORTMAN. “Architecture should connect people to places and the environment and we see great opportunity for designing the Qingpu Liantang Hotel in a way that meaningfully connects people with the vibrancy of the surrounding environment while celebrating the areas’ natural beauty.”

The 133,400 square meter project site is surrounded by over 6.5 million square meters of conservation forest and winding waterways that have been a mode of transportation for centuries, enabling a harmonious marriage of architecture and landscape. The canal creates a unique destination space alive with people, boats, bridges, restaurants and balconies overlooking the active lively atmosphere. As such, the canal is an integral part of the overall project as one of the main means of circulation.

The 45,000 square meter hotel, vehicular loop road, waterway bridges and pedestrian paths allow for multiple layers of sensory experiences and access to currently unreachable areas of the site. A variety of apartment type hotel units are clustered along the loop road and are designed to look like a series of smaller buildings gathered together like a village in the landscape. The active sequences of spaces along the vehicular path are inspired by images of the Chinese water dragon.

Additionally, 10,000 square meters of commercial space will be developed to anchor the northeast and northwest corners of the site. Public access to commercial amenities and hotel restaurants will be available from both the canal and the road network. Certain parts of the canal will be expanded to create pockets for docks and boathouses for residents’ use.

PORTMAN has worked in China for more than 30 years and has designed a number of prominent landmarks in Shanghai and Beijing as well as in second and third tier cities. Notable projects include Shanghai Centre, Beijing Yintai Center and Hyatt Regency Hangzhou.